Serena Williams has taken the first step that would be required ahead of a comeback to tennis, registering with the sport’s drug-testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Tuesday.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, Williams said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared she was “evolving” away from tennis.
It wasn’t immediately clear when or where — or even if — Williams actually will play again. Her agent did not immediately return a request for comment.
Bounces first reported the decision by Williams, 44, to place her name back in the testing pool with the ITIA, which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts.
“She is on the list and back in the testing pool,” ITIA spokesman Adrian Bassett wrote to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Athletes returning to testing need to provide information on their whereabouts — details on their location when they are not at an official event and times when they are available to give samples. Someone who retires while they are on the list and later comes back needs to be available for testing for six months before they are allowed to return to competition.
Williams’ older sister, Venus, returned to competition in July at age 45 after nearly 1½ years away from the tour; she never had announced her retirement. At the U.S. Open, Venus became the oldest player to play singles since 1981.
When Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, came back at the DC Open, she spoke about wishing Serena would join her back on tour. They claimed 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a pair.
“I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here. Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her,” Venus said at the time when asked about a video on social media that showed Serena swinging a racket. “But if she comes back, I’m sure she’ll let y’all know.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/serena-williams-comeback-drug-tests/



